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E04H—BUILDINGS OR LIKE STRUCTURES FOR PARTICULAR PURPOSES; SWIMMING OR SPLASH BATHS OR POOLS; MASTS; FENCING; TENTS OR CANOPIES, IN GENERAL

E04H4/00—Swimming or splash baths or pools

E04H4/14—Parts, details or accessories not otherwise provided for

E04H4/16—Parts, details or accessories not otherwise provided for specially adapted for cleaning

E04H4/1681—Cleaning whips

Abstract

AB A swimming pool cleaner comprising a car having two turbine-driven rear wheels and a steerable front wheel guided on an endless track in the form of a weighted tube resting on the bottom of the pool. Water under pressure from the pool circulation system is delivered to the turbine to drive the rear wheels, and exits through two elongated sweep hoses which direct the water in jets into the pool.

Filed Mar. 15, 1971, Ser. No. 123,957 Int. Cl. E04h 3/20 US. Cl. 210-169 12 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A swimming pool cleaner comprising a car having two turbine-driven rear wheels and a steerable front wheel guided on an endless track in the form of a weighted tube resting on the bottom of the pool. Water under pressure from the pool circulation system is delivered to the turbine to drive the rear wheels, and exits through two elongated sweep hoses which direct the water in jets into the pool.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The invention relates to the cleaning of swimming pools and, more particularly, to an automatic pool cleaner for use in placing settled-out dirt and other debris in temporary suspension in the water so that the usual circulation system of the pool can remove the dirt from the pool as an incident to the normal circulation and filtration of the pool water.

For some time, the best way to clean the bottom of a pool, and the sides, if necessary, was to connect a manual vacuum attachment with a cleaning head to the intake of the circulation system of the pool, so that water could be drawn in through the attachment while the cleaning head was moved manually over the surfaces to be cleaned. This was a time-consuming and bothersome operation, and expensive if performed by a hired attendant, so efforts were directed toward providing an automatic cleaner that would eliminate the manual operation.

Several different approaches resulted, the most popular of these involving the use of so-called sweep hoses that are movably supported in various Ways above the pool, and connected to the return pipe of the pool circulation system so that the water being pumped back into the pool by the system was directed as jets into the pool and against the various surfaces thereof. Such sweep hoses are made flexible so as to whip and writhe around in the water as a result of the jet action of the water ejected through nozzles on the ends of the hoses.

These water jets served to disturb the dirt and other debris that has accumulated in the pool, and to place it in temporary suspension in the water for removal by the filtration system. That is, the suspended dirt is drawn out through the skimmer, skim gutter, or other outlet from the pool, and separated from the water in a conventional manner in passing through the usual filter, sometimes after flowing through a strainer basket in the skimmer.

Examples of prior automatic cleaners are shown in Pat. No. 2,975,791, in which a sweep hose is shown on the free end of an elongated supporting pipe that is pivotally secured to the deck at one side of a pool to swing back and forth across the surface of the water in the pool; and in Pat. No. 3,032,044, in which a sweep hose is shown on a pipe that revolves about a pivot centrally mounted over the pool, it alternatively, is carried by a float which is propelled with a random motion around the surface of the water in the pool. The primary disadvantages of these cleaners, and of other similar cleaners that have been proposed, are the complexity of the installation procedure involved in preparing relatively cumbersome equipment for use and reuse, the unsightli- Patented Sept. 5, 1972 ice ness of the equipment when it is installed on or over the pool, and, with respect to floating, random motion devices, the lack of certainty regarding coverage of all of the pool surfaces within a reasonable period of operation. And, unless the equipment is removed after each use, it remains in full view and as an obstruction to normal use of the pool.

The primary objective of the present invention is to avoid many of the foregoing characteristics and disadvantages while providing a reliable and effective pool cleaner.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention resides in an improved automatic pool cleaner including a car that is heavier than water and is attachable to the water circulation system of a swimming pool to be driven along the bottom surface of the pool while carrying cleaning means in the form of one or more sweep hoses, together with means for guiding the car along the bottom of the pool to insure that all, or substantially all, wall surface areas of the pool are encompassed by the sweep hoses.

More specifically, and as illustrated in the preferred embodiment shown herein, the car of the improved pool cleaner comprises a housing having wheels for supporting the car to travel on the bottom of a pool, a motor in the form of a water turbine geared to at least one, and preferably two, of the wheels and having an inlet for attachment to the return of the water circulation system and an exhaust outlet for water that has passed through the turbine, and a steerable wheel for guiding the car about the pool. At least one sweep hose is attached to the car to direct water under pressure as a jet into the pool While moving sinuously about the car, and the guiding means is in the form of an endless steering element defining an endless track for the steerable wheel.

The preferred steering element is a weighted tube, and the steerable wheel has a peripheral groove for riding on the tube. Two sweep hoses of different lengths preferably are attached to the exhaust outlet of the turbine to receive water under pressure therefrom at the rear end of the car and the inlet of the turbine is located on top of the car and attached to the return pipe by an elongated flexible supply hose.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a fragmentary perspective view of one corner section of an illustrative swimming pool that is equipped with an automatic pool cleaner embodying the novel features of the present invention, part of the steering element being indicated schematically;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged side elevational view of the pool cleaner shown in FIG. 1, with parts broken away and shown in cross-section; and

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken substantially along the line 33 of FIG. 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION As shown in the drawings for purposes of illustration, the invention is embodied in an automatic pool cleaner, indicated generally by the reference number 10, for use in stirring up settled-out dirt and other debris in the water 11 of a swimming pool 12 for removal as an incident to the conventional filtration and recirculation of the pool It is to be understood, however, that the cleaner also is adapted for use in pools having wall-mounted skimmer units of the type most frequently used in small residential pools, and that it is intended to be attached in a basically conventional manner to the return pipe (not shown) of a pool circulation system which withdraws water from the pool through a skimmer, gutter, drain, or combination thereof, pumps the withdrawn water through a filter and perhaps a heater, and then returns the water under pressure to the pool through the return pipe. The cleaner is attached to this pipe by an elongated flexible supply hose 19, and, in many instances, a booster pump may be provided in the circulation system to increase the return pressure and thereby enhance the cleaning action, as is well known in the art.

In accordance with the present invention, the cleaner 10 comprises a car that carries at least one sweep hose 21 and is heavier than water so as to remain on the bottom surface 17 of the pool 12, with wheels 22 supporting the car to travel on the bottom surface of the pool during cleaning, and with at least one steerable Wheel 23 on the car for guiding it along the bottom surface. A motor 24 on the car is driven by water under pressure from the supply hose 19 and, in turn, drives the wheels 22. The steerable wheel 23 rides on an endless steering element 25 for guiding the car along a selected endless path around the pool. Thus, the car travels along a definite path along the bottom of the pool and carries the sweep hose or hoses along the path and within reach of all areas of the pool along the path.

In this instance, the car 20 is an elongated housing that tapers forwardly from a thickened rear portion to a relatively narrow nose at the front end, the wheels 22 being supported on opposite sides of the rear portion on the opposite ends of an axle 27 that is journaled in a throughbore 28 extending through two coaxial sleeves 29 that are integral with the housing. The latter preferably is formed by two castings that are fitted together along a central parting plane 30, as shown in FIG. 3, and may be bolted together and welded along the upper and lower sides, as indicated at 31.

Beneath the front end, the steerable wheel 23 is journaled between the depending legs of a yoke 32 that is swivelly mounted to turn about a vertical axis, thus permitting the wheel to turn through a full 360 degrees. A simple castor-type front wheel is shown, this wheel preferably being much smaller in diameter than the two rear wheels 22.

As can be seen most clearly in FIGS. 2 and 3, the motor 24 is a water turbine comprising a hub 33 that is pinned at 34 (see FIG. 2) to a shaft 35 rotatably supported at its ends in bushings 37 fitted in the opposite halves of the housing, behind and somewhat above the axle 27, with a series of vanes 38 projecting radially outwardly from the hub into an annular chamber 39 coaxial with the shaft 35 and generally circular in cross-section. A passage 40 (FIG. 2) extends downwardly into the top of the housing and intersects the top side of the chamber substantially tangentially to form the inlet of the turbine, and a fitting 41 at the upper end of this passage is attached to the supply hose 19.

A second passage 42 extends into the rear side of the housing and intersects the chamber 39 approximately ninety degrees from the inlet 40 to form the exhaust outlet of the turbine 24. Thus, water introduced under pressure through the inlet 40 flows rearwardly through the upper portion of the chamber and then downwardly to exit through the outlet 42, and in so doing, drives the turbine vanes counterclockwise as indicated by the arrow 43 in FIG. 2.

Formed on one side of the hub 33 is a pinion gear 44 which meshes with a larger gear 45 that is coaxially pinned at 47 to the axle 27. Thus, the rotary motion of the turbine 24 imparted by the flow of water therethrough is transmitted through the gears 44 and 45 to the axle,

and thence to the wheels 22, which are turned clockwise as indicated by the arrow 48 in FIG. 2, driving the car 20 in the direction indicated by the arrow 49 in FIG. 1.

The steering element 25 defining the endless track for the steerable wheel or castor 23 is shown as a hollow tube that is circular in cross-section and is heavier than water, preferably being a plastic hose filled with weighting material such as sand, or a flexible metal core material such as a cable (not shown). The castor 23 has a peripheral groove 50 sized to fit over and ride on the tube, as shown in FIG. 3.

In FIG. 1, only a short portion of the tube 25 is shown, and the shape of the remaining portion of a representative endless path is indicated by a broken line, with zig-zag markings 51 indicating the removal of portions of the path for compactness of illustration. It will be seen in FIG. 1 that the tube is positioned on the bottom surface 17 of the pool in spaced relation with the walls 14 and 15, with a curve at 25a between two straight sections 25b and 250 that preferably are parallel to the walls. The spacing of the tube from the walls is determined primarily by the reach of the sweep hose or hoses, the tube being placed so that the cleaner can reach all surfaces to be cleaned.

On the schematically indicated portion of the path, it will be seen that another straight section 25d is provided to guide the cleaner along another wall (not shown) of the pool, parallel to the wall 14, and that a generally perpendicular section 252 leads to a narrow tU-shaped section 25 of the path returning to the straight section 25b along the wall 14. This is shown simply to illustrate the adaptibility of the path to irregular shapes, for example, to guide the cleaner into and out of a relatively small, rectangular extension at one end of the pool. If the pool is of oval or other non-rectangular shape, the path can be made to follow the contour of the sidewalls.

As shown in FIG. 1, a second sweep hose 51 is provided to cooperate with the first hose 21 in directing the two cleaning jets from the cleaner 10 into the pool. The two sweep hoses may be of conventional construction, and herein are connected to the exhaust outlet passage 42 by a dual fitting 52 threaded therein. Nozzles 52 preferably are attached to the free ends of the hoses for an effective jet action.

The length of these hoses may be selected to suit a particular pool. For example, the shorter hose 51 may be on the order of four feet long, while the longer hose is as long as twelve feet long for a relatively small pool, or the two hoses might be sixteen and twenty feet long for a larger pool. The longer hose should reach from the car 20 to the sidewalls of the pool near the surface of the water, and also from the car to near the center of the pool.

With the car 20 in place on the tube 25, and with the rear wheels 22 straddling the tube and the grooved front wheel 23 resting thereon, all that is necessary to initiate operation of the pool cleaner 10 is to start the flow of water through the turbine 24. For this purpose, the supply tube 19 is inserted in the return pipe and the circulation system is put in operation. The flow of water through the turbine starts the car in motion along the tube, and the exhaust fiow from the turbine, exiting through the nozzles 53, produces two jets of water which are directed against the various surfaces of the pool to place the dirt and debris thereon into temporary suspension, for removal by the pool filter. Of course, the jets produce the usual writhing action of the hoses that insures coverage of all areas that are within reach of hoses, and thus will clean an endless band of surface area of substantially equal width on opposite sides of the path of the car. In general, the hoses can be expected to trail the car and move back and forth along the bottom of the pool, but will also direct the jets upwardly along the sidewalls of the pool to clean these as well.

After a suitable period of operation, when the water has been cleaned to the desired extent, the supply hose 19 may be disconnected from the return pipe and the car 20 may be removed from the pool. As a practical matter, however, the car may be left in the pool in an out-of-theway position, such as in the deep end of the pool, so as to be ready for use at any time with a minimum of preparation. The supply hose can remain connected to the car in this position and can be stored in the water with its free end held in a readily accessible position along one side of the pool.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that the present invention provides a new and different pool cleaner that avoids many of the disadvantages of prior, abovesurface pool cleaners, including the unsightliness of such cleaners during operation and when allowed to remain in the pool between uses, as well as the need to remove the cleaner from the pool to avoid such unsightliness, and also the uncertainty of a random guidance system as used in many automatic cleaners that are popular today. It will also be evident that, while a particular form of the invention has been illustrated and described, various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

We claim:

1. An automatic cleaner for use in a swimming pool having a water circulation system for removing water from the pool, cleaning the water, and returning cleaned water to the pool under pressure, said cleaner comprising:

a heavier-than-water car having a 'body, a pair of rear wheels mounted on opposite sides of said body to engage the bottom surface of a pool and support the car for traveling along said bottom surface, and a steerable front wheel spaced along said body from said rear wheels;

a water turbine on said car having an inlet for receiving water under pressure from the circulation system, an exhaust outlet for water that has passed through the turbine, and a rotary output shaft driven by the turbine;

means for connecting said inlet to said circulation system to receive water under pressure therefrom;

gearing coupling said output shaft to said rear wheels to drive said car along said bottom surface;

at least one elongated flexible sweep hose secured at one end to said car in communication with said exhaust outlet to receive water therefrom under pressure and discharge the water as a jet into the pool beneath the surface thereof thereby to stir up dirt and the like for removal and cleaning by said circulation system as the car travels along the bottom surface;

and an endless steering element resting on the bottom of the pool and defining a preselected endless path for said car along the bottom surface for carrying said sweep hose through selected areas of the pool;

said steerable wheel having means thereon for following said steering element, whereby the car is driven by water under pressure from said circulation system to travel along the steering element while the exhaust from said turbine is directed as at least one jet into the pool, said sweep hose being free to move around the car and clean an endless band of surface area of substantially equal width on opposite sides of said path.

2. An automatic cleaner as defined in claim 1 in which said steering element is positioned in said pool so that said jet reaches substantially all the surface area of said pool.

3. An automatic cleaner as defined in claim 1 in which two sweep hoses of different lengths are attached to said outlet.

4. An automatic cleaner as defined in claim 1 in which said steering element is a weighted tube, and said steerable wheel has a peripheral groove for riding on said tube.

5. An automatic cleaner for use in a swimming pool having a water circulation system for removing water from the pool, cleaning the water, and returning cleaned water to the pool under pressure, said cleaner comprising:

a heavier-than-water car having wheels for engaging the bottom surface of a pool and supporting the car for traveling along said bottom surface;

a water-driven motor on said car having an inlet for receiving water under pressure from the circulation system of the pool, an exhaust outlet for the water, and an output element driven by the motor as water from the circulation passes from said inlet to said outlet;

a steerable wheel on said car for guiding the latter about the pool;

means coupling said output element to at least one of said whels to drive the car along said bottom surface;

at least one elongated, flexible sweep hose on said car receiving water under pressure from the circulation system of the pool and discharging such water as a jet into the pool beneath the surface thereof, said sweep hose being free to move sinously about the pool as the car travels along said bottom surface;

and an endless steering element on said bottom surface defining an endless path along the latter around said pool, said steerable wheel having means thereon for following said steering element to guide said car along said path and move said sweep hose around said pool.

6. An automatic cleaner for use in a swimming pool having a water circulation system for removing water from the pool, cleaning the water, and returning cleaned water to the pool under pressure, said cleaner comprising:

a heavier-than-water car having wheels for engaging the bottom surface of a pool and supporting the car for traveling along said bottom surface;

a Water-driven motor on said car having an inlet for receiving water under pressure from the circulation system of the pool, an exhaust outlet for the water, and an output element driven by the motor as water from the circulation passes from said inlet to said outlet;

a steerable wheel on said car for guiding the latter about the pool;

means coupling said output element to at least one of said wheels to provide motive power for driving the car along said bottom surface;

at least one elongated, flexible sweep hOse on said car receiving water under pressure from the circulation system of the pool and discharging such water as a jet into the pool beneath the surface thereof, said sweep hose being free to move about the pool as the car travels along said bottom surface;

and means for steering said wheel to guide said car around said bottom surface.

7. An automatic cleaner as defined in claim 6 in which said steering means include an endless steering element on said bottom surface forming a track extending around said pool, said steerable wheel being coupled to said ele ment to ride thereon so as to guide said car around said track.

8. An automatic cleaner as defined in claim 7 in which said car has an elongated housing with front and rear ends overlying said steering element, a pair of rear wheels journaled on said car adjacent said rear end and straddling said track, and said steerable wheel mounted adjacent said front end and riding on said steering element.

9. An automatic cleaner as defined in claim 7 in which said steering element is an endless tube that is heavier than water, said steerable wheel having a peripheral groove riding on said tube.

10. An automatic cleaner as defined in claim 8 in which said turbine is mounted in said housing generally between said rear Wheels, and said output element is geared to a shaft rotatably supported both of said rear wheels on said housing.

11. An automatic cleaner as defined in claim 8 in which said steerable wheel is a Castor mounted on said housing for swivelling about an upright axis.

12. An automatic cleaner as defined in claim 8 in which said inlet is formed on the top of said housing generally between said rear wheels, and said outlet is formed adjacent the rear end of said housing, and further including a second sweep hose connected to said outlet to receive part of the Water therefrom and direct the water as a second jet into the pool.